If you have been reading my site for a while, you might realize that I like video games. One thing you might not realize is that I also like Legos. You might expect that if you combine the two that I would be the target market, and you would be absolutely correct.

Over the last 18 years of blogging I have written some reviews of Lego games, including Lego Dimensions and a list of my favorite games for 2017 . When I went back and looked, I thought I had done reviews of more of the games, but for some reason it turns out that I have not, but I absolutely played a lot of Lego video games over the years. Some of these include Lego City Undercover (on both Xbox and Wii U), Lego Marvel, Lego Harry Potter, Lego Indiana Jones, and, of course, all of the Lego Star Wars games. With Star Wars and Lego being two of the things that I like, I thought I would write a review of the "Lego Star Wars: Skywalker Saga" video game, so let us look at various aspects of the game.

I played Skywalker Saga on the Xbox Series X, you can get a copy for any of the consoles Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, or Xbox One, as well. You can get the physical version or the digital version, deepening on your system and preference.

Before we get into the game we need to take a brief look at the source material, the Star Wars film franchise.

Star Wars Films

You are likely aware that there are nine films that focus on the main characters within the Star Wars franchise. In fact, these nine films are three trilogies, the "Original" trilogy, the "Prequel" trilogy, and the "Sequel" trilogy. All of these comprise what is called "The Skywalker Saga". There are other anthology films, but these are not included in the game. The complete list of films in the "Lego Star Wars: the Skywalker Saga" are:

1. The Phantom Menace
2. Attack of the Clones
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. A New Hope
5. The Empire Strikes Back
6. Return of the Jedi
7. The Force Awakens
8. The Last Jedi
9. The Rise of Skywalker

Throughout the game you will be able to play all nine films and use a variety of different characters. Some of these will be from the films that you can easily recognize, while others may be a bit more obscure. Before we dive into the game itself, let us look at its actual release.

Game Release and Delays

It is quite common for games these days to have an initial release date and end up being delayed. But the Skywalker Saga is an outlier, even for the norm. The game was initially announced at E3 in 2019. An initial release date for the game was set in May of 2020 with an expected release in October of 2020. However, events in August of 2020, it was announced that due to COVID-19 the game would be delayed with an expected release date being set to Spring 2021.

Fast forward to April 2nd, 2021, and TT Games announced via Twitter that the game would be delayed indefinitely. The reason provided was to allow more time to work out the bugs since the game was supposed to be the largest and biggest Lego game to date. In January of 2022, TT Games announced that the Skywalker Saga would launch on April 5th, 2022. The game did in fact launch on April 5th, 2022.

I am one who enjoys all sorts of Lego games and this was absolutely no exception. I had pre-ordered the game in December 2020. I opted to get the "Deluxe" version, which included the character pack as well as a Luke Skywalker mini-fig. This pre-order length is the longest that I have experienced, and I have been gaming for a long time. The number and length of delays were worth it though. This was one of the most stable, although no perfect, Lego video games that I have played to date.

About the Game

The Skywalker Saga is an ambitious game. As the name states, it covers the entirety of the Skywalker Saga, which is all nine of the films, from "The Phantom Menace" to "Rise of Skywalker". You might initially think that would have to start at the first film, "The Phantom Menace", but that is not the case. In fact, there are you can start at any first movies of each of the trilogies. This means that you can begin at The Phantom Menace, A New Hope, or The Force Awakens, depending on your mood.

For my play through I opted to start with The Phantom Menace. Within each film, you are not able skip ahead to another film, you actually have to play through the trilogy in order. Next, let us look at the game play.

Game Play

Within Skywalker Saga that are actually two different modes of being able to play through a particular level, Story Mode and Free Play. Story mode is a locked mode in which you will need to use the provided characters to complete the level. Free Play mode is very similar to Story mode, except you can choose any character that you have unlocked and can switch freely between them in order to accomplish the tasks required.

Each class of character has its own unique abilities. Here are some benefits for each class:

• Jedi - Jedi mind tricks, Jedi powers
• Heroes - Hero Terminals, Grappling Hooks
• Scavenger - Special Tools
• Scoundrel - Special Targeting
• Bounty Hunters - Enemy detection, grenades, and some can temporarily hover
• Villains - Explosives, Access weapons caches
• Dark Side - Jedi mind tricks, Jedi powers
• Astromech - Special Terminal access
• Protocol Droid - Translation, Break Apart, droid terminals

Stud Collection

There are a number of features within Skywalker Saga that features that you have come to expect from Lego games. Chief amongst these is collecting of studs. Studs are circular lego pieces that will provide you will various amounts depending on the color. The colors and their stud values are:

• Silver - 10 studs
• Gold - 100 studs
• Blue - 1000 studs
• Purple - 10000 studs

Studs are used for a variety of things throughout the game. Some of these include purchasing upgrades, ships, characters, or even during quests. There are only a few quests that actually require you to pay for something using studs. If I recall correctly, the most expensive thing paid for during a quest was 10,000 studs.

True Jedi

"True Jedi" is a status where you collect a requisite amount of studs in each level. The amount varies level to level. For some levels it can be easily accomplished during story mode without any multipliers, while others are more easily accomplished with stud multipliers enabled.

Levels

Each of the nine movies has six levels to go through. These levels are re-creations of the movies with some additional elements. If you have seen the movies you will definitely recognize the various parts of each movie and which parts the game is recreating.

Within each level there are some tasks that you need to accomplish. There are five mini-kits that you need to locate and obtain. These mini-kits are used to unlock various Micro ships. Some of the mini kits can be obtained while playing through the story using the characters provided to you, meanwhile there are others that will require you to use other unlocked characters in order to obtain these other mini kits and can only be obtained during free play.

Along with the mini kits there are also three challenges per level. Some of these you will inevitably get by accident, while others will require you to make a concerted effort to obtain them. There are 135 total challenges to accomplish, three for each of the 45 levels. Challenges are not identified in anyway, except for at the end of the level. For these challenges, you may want to find the information on the internet.

Kyber Bricks

Throughout the Skywalker Saga there are 1166 Kyber Bricks that you must obtain in order to get 100% completion. Within each of the levels of the nine films there are six Kyber Brick. These are awarded for each of the following:

• Level completion
• Obtaining "True Jedi" status
• One for each of the three level challenges
• Collecting all five minikits

That means that within the nine films there are 270 Kyber Bricks that are possible just for going through the levels and completing all of the challenges and obtaining True Jedi and collecting the minikits.

Kyber Bricks are used to make purchases that will help upgrade different character classes.

Character Upgrades

Character class upgrades will allow you to make improvements to various character classes. Some of these upgrades are for the "Base" class, which applies to all characters, while others are class specific. These upgrades cost a combination of Kyber Bricks and studs. As each of the upgrade levels goes up, it will cost both more in Kyber Bricks and studs. Studs are more easily obtainable.

Now that we have covered a few different aspects of the game play, let us turn to the Galaxy.

The Galaxy

In the Skywalker Saga you can go to any of the planets across the Star Wars galaxy at any time. You do not need to finish any levels to access the planets. On each of the planets you will have a variety of mini puzzles to accomplish and characters to obtain. There are 25 different planets with at least two specific areas that you can travel to, and likely more. One of these is the "Space" around the planet and another is on land. Many of the places that you can land will be familiar and are places you have played during story mode. The total number of areas you can travel to is 55, and even some of these have areas that you are not directly accessible, except by taking a taxi (free) between areas on the planet.

Quests

Throughout the Star Wars galaxy there are a number of different quests that you can perform. The list includes:

• 140 Side Missions
• 731 Puzzles
• 38 Trials
• 10 Challenges

All of these items can be accomplished whenever you would like. As is the case with many other aspects of Lego Star Wars Skywalker Saga, some of these will be easy, while others will be challenging.

As a note, the challenges listed above are different from the level challenges and are galaxy-wide challenges.

Data Cards

Throughout the Galaxy there are 19 datacards that can be collected. Each Datacard will allow you to unlock a special extra, like stud multipliers, or a special GONK companion. These are round in various worlds and will each cost studs to unlock. The stud multipliers are particularly expensive to purchase, but their cost will be made up somewhat quickly particularly if you have more than one multiplier enabled.

Rumors

Rumors within Skywalker Saga are a way of learning information. This information may be quest specific, but it may also be just general information. You can purchase any rumor, in the Holographic in-game menu. The types of rumors you can purchase are for any of the side quests, galaxy-wide challenges, level challenges, or even minikit information. Rumors are not free and will cost you some studs to obtain. Here are a couple of screenshots showing the process.

Xbox Achievements

No Xbox game is complete without at least some achievements. There are 45 achievements that can be triggered by completing actions. It is not likely that you will get all of them very quickly, in fact it will take a while. But, as you play it is inevitable that you will trigger at least some of them just through the natural course of the game.

Bugs and Glitches

No game is ever going to be 100% perfect, and the Skywalker Saga is no exception. However, compared to other Lego video games that I have played, this one did have fewer noticeable bugs, with the exception of those outlined below. One thing in particular that I did notice is that none of the achievements failed to trigger for me. All of them popped as expected, which has not been my experience in the past. Even though it was the most stable, there were still some bugs.

I ran into a few issues while playing the game. This includes not being able to advance in some levels, some levels not being able to be played in "Free Play", and my favorite, is having the game glitch so bad that I could not get out of a loop where I dropped through the floor, was caught, and placed right back to the same place. This was annoying because I could not even move or switch characters so I could get out of the loop. Here is the video showing that glitch.

The second bug that I came across was in the level "C-3P-Oh No!", in "The Rise of Skywalker", where "Free Play" would not actually be work. Instead, it enters story mode. This bug only occurred when flying to the level and trying to select Free Play. If you use the Holographic level selection screen and select Free Play it worked as expected. Below is a video showing the bug.

Here is a video of a last bug that I encountered. This one is just a bug, it did not affect game play. One of the many quests is to collect various characters for someone else and this is just a bug where the camera angle obscures the actual collection of the character. It did not affect game play.

Annoyances

Beyond the bugs mentioned above, there is one thing that can be annoying. There are 1166 Kyber bricks to collect in order to get 100% completion. While I can appreciate a large game, having to do the same thing over and over does get monotonous after a while. If you are going to attempt to get 100% on the game, be prepared to spend a significant amount of time obtaining all of the items, collectibles, characters, and completing all of the levels and challenges.

A second annoyance that I encountered is regarding characters. Before we dive into that, we need to cover another feature. One aspect to the Lego games is the ability to unlock stud multipliers. There are five possible multipliers within the Skywalker Saga. These are the 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, and 10x multipliers. These can be used in conduction to allow you to get a lot of studs fairly quickly.

With all of multipliers enabled you actually get 3,840 times the value of each studs that you collect. What this means is that for a silver (10) stud collected on the screen, you actually receive 38,400 studs. If you collect a 10000 stud, that means that you collect 38,400,000 studs. This can add up quickly and can be very helpful to obtain True Jedi status. Now, back to the characters.

Regarding the characters, it is not that there are too many characters, although there are certainly quite a lot of them, the issue is that you have to "purchase" each one of them individually within the game. What would be nice to see is a way of being able to purchase all available ones in a single go.

I can see where having this feature early in the game could easily go awry and have someone inadvertently purchase all of the available characters and then no longer have the studs to do perform other tasks. In order to avoid this, it could possibly be that the option would not appear until after you have unlocked all of the stud multipliers. This way, even if someone accidentally does this, it will not take long for someone to acquire the studs again.

The same would also apply to ships, although there are significantly fewer of them, but it could be helpful to that option for those as well. However, this approach would not make sense regarding upgrading character classes because upgrading character classes does require a bit of thought depending on what functions you need at the time.

The last annoyance is actually regarding some of the battles. For some of the battles, like when you are facing Count Dooku on the ship, your character has a particular perspective. While I understand the need for this, it can be quite annoying, particularly if you are attempting to get a Kyber Brick or complete a challenge. This is because you cannot change the perspective, and in this particular instance, even switching characters does not allow for freely looking around, the perspective remains the same no matter what character you are using.

Tips

As with any game you end up learning things as you play the game. Lego Skywalker Saga is no different and I thought I would provide you some tips that may come in handy for when you play.

1. Unlock the stud multipliers as soon as possible. As outlined above, the sooner these are unlocked the quicker you can collect studs.
2. Along with stud multiplier, the stud magnet is a good thing to unlock as well. This may be something you want to unlock after you unlock the 2x and 4x stud multipliers.
3. Be sure to upgrade character classes as you go, there are some additional capabilities which may be useful in the game.
4. Be sure to explore the capital ships. They contain some goodies.
5. Make use of the mission tracking capabilities and do not be afraid of hopping from planet to planet.
6. Do no expect to be able to do everything in order, it is just not possible.
7. Talk to non-player characters no matter where you are. You can learn quite a bit from these characters.

Closing Thoughts

Lego Star Wars: Skywalker Saga does go through all of the nine films and does a pretty good job of recreating the experience of the films. While the game does have some bugs, at least as of this writing which is less than two months after it launched, it has far fewer bugs that previous Lego games. This makes the game quite a bit more enjoyable to play.

Even though the game is enjoyable overall, it might start to feel like Groundhog Day when you are doing the same things over and over. It may be advisable to break up tasks and do various things throughout the galaxy. The game is ambitious and a giant galaxy. That being said, you will likely want to consult some walkthrough and hints to figure out how to achieve some tasks throughout the game play.

If you have a significant amount of time that you want to use playing a game, you could possibly put it towards Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. There is a lot that the game has to offer. I have not calculated how long I have spent playing the game, but it is a significant amount of time. I looked at the amount of time that I spent on the game and it took me just under 129 hours total to reach 100% in the game. Therefore, if you do pick it up you will absolutely get your money's worth when playing, unlike some other games.

Today Microsoft announced their intention to acquire Activision Blizzard in a deal worth $68.7 Billion, all-cash deal. This is a huge acquisition for Microsoft for a couple of reasons.

First, because Activision Blizzard is the maker of some of the most notably franchises around, including Call of Duty, Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, Pitfall, and Guitar Hero, just to name a few. This is a huge get for Microsoft, and the Xbox in particular.

The second reason is that these franchises are already big on Microsoft's platforms, Adding the catalog of games to Microsoft means that even more games to Game Pass could easily entice even more subscribers to use the service.

Along with the announcement today, Microsoft also announced that they had 25 Million Game Pass, and as John Gruber pointed out, at an average of $12.50 per month, comes out to about $4 billion per year, and that is just the current subscribers.

Challenges

Even with the announcement there are some uphill challenges to overcome. These include regulatory pressure and Activision Blizzard culture issues.

Regulatory Issues

Today's political landscape could prove challenging for Microsoft to get approval for the acquisition. That is because governments are looking at every acquisition, particularly in the tech sector, and they could stop the acquisition. One thing that Microsoft does have in its favor is that if the acquisition were to go forward, they would still be smaller than Sony and Tencent. One thing that would be in favor for the acquisition is that it would keep the United States competitive with Japan and China.

The second, and bigger, challenge is the culture at Activision Blizzard. There have long been indications that Activision Blizzard has had a problem with sexual harassment and discrimination, to the point where the Security and Exchange Commission is investigating.

In order to help change the culture, Microsoft is making some changes to the leadership amongst the gaming unit. Here is a graphic that they produced showing the changes.

What you might notice is that among the leadership there are seven women and five men. This should help change the culture at the Activision Blizzard, at least that is the hope.

We will see if the acquisition is blocked or allowed to go through or whether it will be blocked. If it is approved, I hope Microsoft cane make some major changes to fix the issues at Activision Blizzard.

Source: Xbox News, Microsoft News

If you were to ask anybody if they play games, you will very likely get an affirmative answer. Everybody has played at least one game in their lives. It may not be a video game, but it is a game of some sort. Gamers are simultaneously the same and unique. We are all the same because we have all had triumphs and heartbreaks, while playing a game. We have all felt the anticipation of a new game, and the let down when a game did not live up to our expectations. We have all been frustrated and elated all while playing games.

Even though we have all felt those experiences, none of us have had the exact same overall experiences when it comes to games. We all have different favorite types of games, games we have played, and even when, where, and what games we had access to and played.

I have played games on a range of devices and consoles. Over my life I have played games on a wide variety of devices, ranging from the Apple II/e to the Xbox Series X. The entire list includes:

• Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
• Sega Genesis
• Sega Game Gear
• Nintendo 64
• Sony Playstation 2
• Microsoft Xbox
• Nintendo Game Cube
• Nintendo Wii
• Microsoft Xbox 360
• Sony Playstation 3
• Xbox One
• Sony Playstation 4
• Nintendo Switch
• Xbox Series X

I have also played games on Microsoft DOS, Microsoft Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, and even on the Mac, iPhone and iPad. The games that I remember most will always be ones that I enjoy playing. These games are ones that I have undoubtedly purchased multiple times. Some of these include Super Mario Bros 1, 2, and 3, Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, and Sonic & Knuckles, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, the entire Half-Life series, Duke Nukem 3D, and a bunch of other games.

I have purchased a new iPhone each year since its original introduction in 2007. Having purchased a new iPhone each year, I have been able to figure out what areas I need to cover in each review that I post about the phones. 

Having owned an iPhone for so long I have played a bunch of games on the iPhone, as well as the iPad. While I do not play that many new games on the iPhone, there are four games that I play almost daily.  Given that I spend so much time with my iPhone, you would think I would spend more time playing games on there, but I do not. For the last seven years worth of iPhones, I written a review. 

Even though I have played many games, across the various consoles, I have never actually written a review of a gaming console, as far as I can tell. So, this is somewhat of a first for me. I have written about the Xbox One and Playstation 4 in two separate e-books, but never a full review.. But I will give it a go. With that, let us dive into various aspects and my thoughts on the latest Microsoft console, the Xbox Series X, starting with a bit of history of gaming.

Brief History of Gaming

When you look at the tech industry in general, you will see a new phone being released at least every month, sometimes even every week, and that is just from a single manufacturer. There are some manufacturers, like Apple, who release their new phones only once a year. There is one industry that makes even Apple look like speed demons when it comes to releasing new products. There are some types of devices that do not get new releases every year, or even every few years. One type of device that meets this definition is. gaming console. 

When new phones are released, they are typically generally incremental changes from the previous versions. That is not to say that they do not make leaps from time to time, they certainly do, but they are just not nearly as significant of shifts.

The same cannot be said for gaming consoles. Typically, console manufacturers tend to release new console generations every five to seven years. The primary reason for such a long time span between console generations is due to development times. One of the factors that contribute to the time is that the entire platform may change. This has happened more than once in recent history. Another factor is that console manufacturers must get game developers on board and developing for the new system in order to have titles available at the launch of the new console.

While console manufacturers release new console generations in longer spans, there are typically incremental versions of the console that are released at some point between the generations. Typically, these incremental versions include additional storage, smaller designs, and other internal refinements. Some of the recent incremental consoles include the Xbox One S, the Xbox One X, the Sony Playstation 4 slim, and the Playstation 4 Pro. The question becomes, what defines a “console generation”?

Console Generations

Depending on whom you ask, a console generation can be defined in a number of different ways. However, there has been some consensus of what each console generation is. The early console generations were marked by significant advances and included things like hardware changes. For instance, in the first five generations we go from the original Pong machine, all the way to the Sony Playstation 1. These generations include going from 4-bit consoles, to 8-bit to 16-bit, or 32-bit to 64-bit consoles. This also includes going from 2D graphics to 3D animated graphics. The first five console generations spanned from 1972 to 1999, while the sixth to 9th generations span from 2000 to now.

Each console generation has its own iconic consoles, below are the big names for each generation.

1st Generation

Original Pong

2nd Generation

• Atari 2600
• Intellivision
• ColecoVision

3rd Generation

• Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
• Commodore 64 Gaming System
• Sega Master System

4th Generation

• TurboGrafx-16
• Sega Genesis
• Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)

5th Generation

• Sega Saturn
• Nintendo 64
• Sony Playstation 1

6th Generation

• Microsoft Xbox
• Nintendo GameCube
• Sega Dreamcast
• Sony Playstation 2

7th Generation

• Microsoft Xbox 360
• Nintendo Wii
• Sony Playstation 3

8th Generation

• Microsoft Xbox One
• Nintendo Switch
• Nintendo Wii U
• Sony Playstation 4

9th Generation (Current) 

• Microsoft Xbox Series X|S
• Sony Playstation 5

As time has gone on, the number of distinct consoles being manufactured has been dropping to only a few manufacturers. The first generation saw 888 different consoles, whereas the last four generations have only had three or four consoles being released.

The reason for such a precipitous drop is that a change happened with the second console generation. Instead of having a device being dedicated to a single game, the consoles become platforms with the ability to play multiple games. A significant number of consoles utilized cartridges. These hard plastic cartridges were durable and allowed you to use swap them out easily.

Stating with fifth generation, games began switching from cartridges to using CDs, or DVDs for their games. The reason for this was storage density and the need to be able to store more information than a standard cartridge could hold. 

Another shift happened with the seventh generation of consoles. That change was the ability to download games to your console and not need a physical item to be able to play your game. This had the advantage of allowing you to re-download your games again, as well as allowing updates to games. 

Nintendo has typically done its own thing, and continues to do so by going back to using cartridges for their Nintendo Switch system. There are two reasons for this shift. The first is that the Switch is meant to be portable, so having a spinning drive is not possible. Secondly, the storage space available on cartridges has increased to the point where they can put games on cartridges. The Nintendo Switch does support digital downloads, so you do not need to use a cartridge, but you can if you would like.

As you can see there have been three major manufacturers, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony, for the lsat three generations. Each of these manufacturers have their own line of consoles. It is possible that another console manufacturer will enter into the market, however, it does not seem likely.

As mentioned above, gaming consoles are not released every year, there are typically refinements released at about half-way through a console generation’s lifetime. This has been true with the release of smaller versions of each of the most recent consoles.  When there is a revision released, it is typically smaller, or in the case of Nintendo, a bit more powerful, or a different form factor. 

When it comes to console gaming, I primarily play games on the Xbox. I do have a Playstation 4 and a Nintendo Switch, so I can play games on those as well. I typically only play console-exclusive games on those devices. 

Because I primarily game on the Xbox, I was excited to hear that Microsoft was releasing a new console this holiday season. Unlike so many others, I was able to get a console for launch day, although I did have some trouble. You can read about the problems I had here.

Now, that we have covered some history, let us get to the review of the Xbox Series X by starting with the unboxing.

Unboxing

There are a slew of different unboxing videos of the Xbox Series X available. Like this one from What’s Good Games, but here are some pictures of the unboxing of my Xbox Series X.

I have watched a few different unboxing videos, so I knew what to expect. When you open the The Xbox Series X packaging, you are presented with the Xbox console right up front. It is nicely wrapped in a soft wrap to protect the console.

Behind the console is a box that contains the power cord, an HDMI cable, and the included controller. In order to setup the console you need to take it out of the box. The Xbox Series X console is HEAVY, at 9.8 pounds or 4.45 kilograms.. The console is not unwieldy, but it is dense and would be problematic to cart around. So, it is a good thing that it is designed to be stationary. This compares to the Xbox One, which was 7.7 pounds, or 3.5 kilograms. Therefore, this newer console is 27% heavier than the original Xbox One.

The Xbox Series X has a number of ports on the back of the console. The ports include:

• Two USB 3.1 gen 1 ports, using the USB-A style connector.
• One gigabit ethernet port
• One power cord plug
• One HDMI out
• One dedicated proprietary storage expansion port.
• One Kensington lock port

The layout of the ports for the Xbox Series X are pretty good. Each port has its own shape, so they are easily identifiable by sight. There is a nice touch that many users may not need, but it can be vital for a certain segment of the population. There are unique bumps beneath each of the ports. This is designed for those who may have visual issues and need to identify a port by touch. 

The USB ports have 3 single dots on them. The ethernet port has two dots, the power port has a single dot, the HDMI out port has a long bar, and the storage expansion port has four dots beneath it. These will allow you to easily identify the ports should you need to be able to identify the ports without looking at them.

As mentioned above, the Xbox Series X includes a gigabit Ethernet port. While some will end up using this port, many will likely use the wireless connection instead. The included wireless is dual-band the 802.11ac. This means that it can support 802.11b,g,n,a, and AC, at 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. This all sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo, and unless you are steeped in wireless connectivity it may not mean much. To make things easier the Wi-Fi working group has retroactively re-named some of these using straight numbers. The Xbox Series X supports Wifi 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. It does not support Wifi 6, which would be 802.11ax. Even though it does not support the latest wireless connectivity, 802.11ac should be sufficient for most everyone. 

All of these ports are on the back, now let us flip it around and look at the front. There is one port on the front as well, another USB 3.1 gen 1 port that uses the USB-A style plug. There are three buttons on the front of the Xbox. There is the disc eject button to remove physical discs. Close to the disc eject button is the Power button. In the opposite corner from the power button is the controller synchronization button.

Outside of the console, you also receive the power cable, a controller (more on that in a bit), and an HDMI 2.1 cable. This cable is a “Ultra High-Speed” cable because it needs to be able to deliver all of the data to your TV, again more on some of the new technology in a bit. Now that we have covered what is in the box, let us look at the internals for the design of the Xbox Series X.

Design

The Xbox Series X console is a rectangular device, that is 5.94 inches wide by 5.94 inches deep, by 11.85 inches high. When consoles are released there are generally designed to lay flat. Technically, the previous Xbox consoles, except for the original Xbox, can be placed on their side, but it is likely that many use it while laying flat.

The Xbox Series X is designed to be used in either orientation. I typically use my Xboxes with the disc drive being horizontal, where the top of the disc will be towards the top of the console. This is because it makes it much easier for me to know which way the disc is supposed to be inserted. I still buy most of my games in physical format, because I can do what I would like with the physical disc afterwards. That is not to say that I have not purchased digital games, I have, but I just prefer to get the physical games. 

Modern gaming consoles are very much like PCs, and contain many of the same type of components. What separates gaming consoles from standard PCs is that gaming console hardware is typically static and highly customized, meaning that they do not typically use off the shelf components.

The Xbox Series X is designed to have the air flow through the core of the console. In order to facilitate this, on the bottom of the console there is a foot that will allow the console to sit slightly above the surface it is placed on. This foot is on the console in order to allow enough to flow over the internals. In order to get enough airflow and to keep the console cool enough, some of the internals have been specifically designed. The biggest example of this is the motherboard.

The motherboard of the Xbox Series X is actually a unique design with two individual boards. One of the boards has the processor, graphics, and memory on it. The second board has all of the input and output, like the wireless, USB ports, HDMI port, and disc drive.  The two boards are attach to a metal chassis, which lines up the boards and allows them to interconnect so everything works well together.

This is very reminiscent of the 2013 Mac Pro, in that it has a unique layout, and the design of the Mac Pro had air flow over the internal core. One of the issues with the 2013 Mac Pro was that it was very limited in terms of thermals, which limited its upgradeability. Luckily, that is not likely to be a problem with the Xbox Series X, because it is not designed to be upgradeable in anyway, and typically game console generations do not change significantly, except in their size.

On the motherboards you will find an 8-core 3.8GHz custom processor and a GPU that is capable of running at 12 teraflops, or 12 trillion operations per second. To complement this is 16GB of system memory. This memory has two different speeds, there is ten gigabytes of memory that runs at 560 gigabits per second, and six gigabytes of memory that runs at 336 gigabits per second. The reason that there are two different types of memory is for throughput. Some tasks need to be able to read and write memory as fast as possible, so it would use the ten gigabyte block of memory. Whereas memory that does not necessarily need to be that fast can use the six gigabyte block of memory.

The types of items that may be stored in memory are loaded from the permanent storage, or non-volatile memory. The Xbox Series X has 1 terabyte of custom storage. This uses the Non-Volatile Memory Express, or NVME, protocol. This protocol is designed to connect directly to the CPU. This connection means that the CPU will be able to access the memory faster than going through traditional buses. This should provide faster speeds.

While the Xbox Series X comes with 1 terabyte by default, you can expand the storage in two ways, using the dedicated expansion port, or USB 3.1. Each option has its own trade-offs.

If you use the dedicated expansion port, you will have to get the custom Seagate Storage Expansion Card. Using this expansion card allows you to use the storage just as if it were internal storage. This would increase your overall storage to 2 terabytes. The downside to this is that it is not cheap. As of this writing, the expansion card has a retail price of $219.99, but it does match the internal storage exactly.

If you opt to go with the USB 3.1 external drive route, you can get much larger storage sizes, upwards of 8 terabytes. While these are typically cheaper, particular for a 1, 2, or 4 terabyte drive, you are not able to use these type of drives for playing games directly off of. Instead, you would need to copy the games from this drive to the internal storage. While this would be significantly faster than re-downloading a game from the xbox servers, or re-installing from disc and then updating the game, it will still take some time. Furthermore, it will take some manual management of your games.

All of these internals support the whole reason you are using the Xbox, to play games. In order to be able to see what you are doing, you need to have some graphics. The Xbox Series X can output games at true 4K, meaning a resolution of 3840 pixels wide x 2160 pixels tall, provided you have a 4K television. The Xbox Series X is capable of handling high-dynamic range, or HDR, content. 

HDR is a technology that allows more vibrant colors. For instance, lighter colors will be brighter, while darker colors will be richer. This can add more contrast to a game and can enhance your overall game play. If you have a capable television, or monitor, you can even play games at 120 frames per second. This would allow the game play to be even smoother than playing at 60 frames per second.

There are a few different types of HDR standards. These include HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Vision, and Advanced HDR. The Xbox Series X supports HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision. These are the most common types, so it is good to have these supported.

While not all monitors can display content at every refresh rate, described using frames per second, or fps, many monitors can support multiple refresh rates. The Xbox Series X can handle the following refresh rates, 24 frames per second, 30 fps, 60 fps, and 120 fps. The various refresh rates can be used within a single game, depending on the content. For instance, if there is a video cut scene that plays at 24fps, while most of the remaining gameplay is 60fps, the Xbox Series X can seamlessly switch between the two modes, and if your monitor supports it, can adjust on the fly without you ever noticing. 

While video is probably the most important aspect of any media on the Xbox Series X, sound can be just as important in some contexts. The Xbox Series X is capable of handling Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, DTS 5.1, Dolby True HD with Atmos, up to 7.1. This is all provided that you have the proper sound setup in order to support the sound.

With all of this technology in such a dense package, it is time to actually get to to playing some games, so now that the technology has been covered, let us move onto to actually setting up the Xbox Series X.

Setup

When I first turned on the Xbox, as you might expect, there was a day one firmware update. This patch was only about 800 megabytes, so not terribly large, particularly as compared to some day 1 game updates. Yes, I am looking at you Call of Duty and your 135GB of downloads, but that is a different story. This was actually smaller than I had expected, but I did expect an update to be needed. Just about every modern devices will need to be updated as soon as they are plugged in and powered on, it is just the modern way of technology.

It has been quite a long time since I had to set up an Xbox. There are a few different ways to setup an Xbox console. The first is to use the on screen guide, which will walk you through step by step. The second option is to use the Xbox app to help set up your Xbox. I opted to use the Xbox app on my phone. The reason I opted for this was because I have a complicated password for my xbox account and trying to enter this via the controller would be a pain to do. Combine this with two factor authentication and it would probably take 10 minutes to get past the login screen.

When you setup and Xbox, you have an option to transfer the settings from an existing Xbox, or to set up the Xbox as a new console. I opted to transfer my settings. This took a lot less time that I expected. The amount of time was short because the transfer was only for the settings and account information. It did not transfer game data, like I had initially thought. Of course, this was my own ignorance. 

The Xbox app will walk you through all of the steps needed. This includes updating the console, selecting power options (energy saving or instant on), setting up automatic updates, enabling remote features, naming the console, and then finally copying the settings from another Xbox.

There was one last thing that happened after I finished the setup. My Xbox Series X controller needed to be updated. Which is not a new thing, since my previous Xbox controllers needed updates from time to time, but I was a bit surprised to see that was immediately after finishing setup. 

There was one last thing that happened after I finished the setup. My Xbox Series X controller needed to be updated. Which is not a new thing, since my previous Xbox controllers needed updates from time to time, but I was a bit surprised to see that was immediately after finishing setup. 

After the setup comes installing games onto the console. Let us move to that for a bit. 

Installing Games

After you have setup an xbox, you do have the option of transferring over game data after the fact. This is done via the settings. After I had finished my setup I contemplated transferring over the game installation data. However, I opted to not do this because there is a new feature for this generation of Xbox consoles.

The Xbox Series X, as well as its cousin the Xbox Series S, have a feature called “Smart Delivery”. Smart Delivery will only download the assets that are necessary for that console. Let us say for instance that you have an Xbox Series S. The maximum resolution for the console is 1440p. This means that you will not need the full 4K resolution images. Similarly, if you have an Xbox Series X, you will not need to download the 1440p assets. This means that you should be able to save some space on your console. If you have an Xbox Series S, you will save more space than the Xbox Series X, but both consoles should save some space.

Since I was going from a non 4K gaming device, the Xbox One S, to a 4K one, the Xbox Series X, I opted to get the optimized versions of the game data delivered so that I could experience the games I chose to install in their full 4K resolution.

There are two downsides to this technology. The first is that the game developer has to support this technology. I honestly do not know what it takes to support Smart Delivery. It might be as simple as tagging different assets for which console or indicating its maximum size. If a game supports Smart delivery it should indicate “Smart Delivery” on the game’s information on the Xbox console or xbox.com. Similarly, if you purchase a physical game, it will have the wording “Series X” on the front cover of the case. 

The second downside is that it will take time to download the optimized version. Game assets that use 4K will take up more storage space, so they will take longer to download, even if they are compressed. This is due to having significantly more resolution, and therefore being of larger size, than standard 1080p or 1440p assets.

On the topic of software, let us move onto the Xbox dashboard software.

Xbox Dashboard 

One of the benefits of software is that you can update, change, and adapt software over time. The software that is used to handle the non-gaming interface of the Xbox is the Xbox dashboard software. If you upgraded from an Xbox One to the Xbox Series X you should notice absolutely no difference between the dashboard of the two consoles. 

Where you would notice some differences is with the capabilities of the console. There are a couple of new options for the Xbox Series X that were not in the Xbox One S, which is what I upgraded from. These include some HDR options, which are outlined above, and another new feature supported by the Xbox Series X.

Game Play

My old Xbox was an Xbox One S. I got this from my brother after he upgraded to a different Xbox One model. The Xbox One S had a 500GB spinning hard drive that ran at 5400RPM. The fact that it was a 5400 RPM hard drive did mean that things were going to take a bit longer, but should be sufficient for game play. The Xbox One S does support 4K Blu-Ray playback, but not 4K gaming. Even the Xbox One S was an upgrade from the original Xbox One that I purchased back in 2013, because that did not include any 4K capabilities at all.

The first thing I noticed with the Xbox Series X is how fast games load. This was most notable when comparing the load times on Watch Dogs: Legion. On the Xbox One S I could get up, go and grab something to drink and come back and still not have the game be loaded. With the Xbox Series X it would take approximately 15 seconds to load, which was a significant improvement.

There are two factors that allow this. The first is that there is an SSD on the Xbox Series X, and the second is the NVME storage, given that it is significantly faster than a spinning hard drive. Solid State drives, by their nature, are faster than any spinning hard drive. This is because solid state drives can read random parts of the drive, where as a spinning hard drive must seek out a specific spot and may need to make a few revolutions before finding the particular sector.

Now, let us switch to a whole new feature for the Xbox Series X, one that will make aspects of game play a bit richer. That feature is called Ray Tracing.

Ray Tracing

Ray Tracing is a newer technique that allows more accurate shadows and lighting around objects. Say for instance you have a. Desk with a light shining on it. In the past it would take a lot to render the exact lighting that would move while a character moves. You would not always be able to take into account how a player would move. Therefore, you would be more likely to render consistent lighting, so that you could have a predictable result. 

However, with todays technology this information can be computed and rendered in near-real time. This technique will allow for even better game play experiences.  Here are two examples from Microsoft’s game, Minecraft. The first one does not have Ray Tracing enabled, while the second one does hav Ray Tracing enabled.

Not every game supports Ray Tracing, but for the ones that do, there may be an option to turn off Ray Tracing within the settings of the game. This is the case for Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War. Since Ray Tracing is still new to the Xbox, it may not be optimized and may have issues. If you do experience any, it might be best to turn it off until the issues can be rectified. I have not experienced any issues specifically related to Ray Tracing, that I know of, but that is not to say that there have not been any.

Now that we have finished with the game play, let us switch to how you play games, using the controller.

Xbox Series X Controller

The way that you control a game depends on the platform. For desktops and laptops, you may be able to use a keyboard, mouse, joystick, or another input device. Remember the old ThrustMaster racing wheels? There are some consoles, like the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo Switch that have their own unique controllers, like the Wii Remotes, and the Joycons on the Nintendo Switch. Even though the Switch and Wii have their own unique controllers, there is another controller available, the Pro controller, which has a controller that is more akin to traditional console controllers.

Some gamers are not able to use traditional controllers and instead need to be able to adapt a controller to their needs. For these gamers, there is the Microsoft Adaptive Controller. While it is not covered in this review, it is available for those gamers who need it.

If you were to just make a quick glance between an Xbox One controller and the Xbox Series X controller you might not think there is any difference between the two. However, there are some differences, but they are subtle. 

All Xbox controllers, excluding the Xbox Adaptive Controller, have a number of items on the front of the controller. These items are:

• Two joysticks, one on the upper left, and one on the right side towards the bottom.
• A directional pad on the left button side.
• Four buttons in a diamond pattern, from top going clockwise you have Y, B, A, and X.
• An options button on the left.
• A start button on the right..
• In the middle at the top is the controller power button.

The buttons and joysticks on the front are not the only buttons. There are some along the back as well. These are:

• Two bumper buttons on the shoulders of the controller, one on the left and one on the right.
• Two trigger buttons on the back, again one on the left and one on the right.
• A power port between the bumpers.
• A pairing button to the left of the power port.

There is one last port on the bottom of the controller, an accessory port. This is used to connect additional items like headsets. The Xbox Series X controller also has one additional button, that is in between the options and start buttons, and that is a dedicated share button.

The function of the Share Button can be customized through the Settings on the Xbox Dashboard. You have a few different options. This can be “Record what happened”, “Take Screenshot” or “Start/Stop recording’. Now, the “Record What Happened” option depends on your default capture settings. For 4K game captures you can capture the last 30 seconds, for 1080p, it is 1 to 2 minute, 720p is up to 3 minutes. The screenshots will be in 4K. The option for "Start/Stop Recording" will begin a record when you press it, and then stop the recording. This allows for a more customized length of video, which can save time in editing later. Even if that editing is just trimming the beginning and the end, it is still time saved.

Besides the power port, the directional pad has changed. The directional pad on the Xbox One controller is designed to allow you to more easily hit the up, right, down, and left arrows. These sit at 90 degree angles to each other. The modification with the Xbox Series X controller is that it is much easier to hit the diagonals, or 45 degrees from the standard directional buttons. This configuration can provide for more control during a game, particularly puzzle games or any other game where exact controllers or small adjustments in those specific directions are needed. This is not the first controller to have this type of configuration. The Xbox Elite Controllers have had this type of directional pad.

Having these additional directional options make playing some type of games a bit better and can make some actions a lot easier. Along with the directional pad there are some other changes, most notably to the back of the controller. This change can also allow for a better overall experience.

Increased Grip

The original Xbox One controller took the shape of the Xbox 360 controller and refined it. One of the aspects of the original Xbox One controller was that the area where you wrap your fingers around the back were smooth. While this felt nice, and provided a uniform feel across the entire controller, it could be a bit problematic. 

Imagine if you will, you are heavy into a gaming session, fighting the last boss of a game, you are low on health and barely surviving. Or maybe you are in a multiplayer match, and you are on a hot streak, going 10 and 0, and you need to keep going, or maybe you are playing a Dance Dance Revolution game and you are hitting every single beat perfectly. Because everything is a bit stressful your palms begin to sweat and with the controller being smooth it may be a bit difficult to hold onto the controller and you may end up dying or failing to hit that button at right the right moment.

Microsoft took the feedback about this and with the Xbox One S controllers, as well as the Xbox Elite Controllers, and added some gripping material to the back of the controllers. This would help during those intense gaming sessions and would allow air to flow through the bumps on the controller.

The Xbox Series X controller take this a bit further and adds just a bit more grip material. When I compare the Xbox One S controller and the new Xbox Series X controller, the Xbox Series X controller does seem to have additional grip material on it. I will concede that it is possible that the grip material on the Xbox One S controller has been worn away over time and it might have the same amount of grip material when it was new. Regardless, it does have more grip material than the original Xbox One controller, which did not have any grip material at all.

There is one last item to discuss about the controller itself, and that is the port on the controller.

USB-C

It is likely that many players use their Xbox controllers wirelessly, but that is not the only method. You can also used them wired to your Xbox as well. If you use rechargeable batteries, or the charge kit, you will need to plug in your controller from time to time. The primary purpose of these ports is to allow the controllers to be connected via a cable. 

The Xbox series of consoles have all had Universal Service Bus, or USB, ports included in them. USB is designed to allow a standard physical interface between devices. At this point USB is considered an "old" technology. It is not outdated, but it has been around a long time. USB was finalized in 1996, with the first devices coming out later in the same year. USB really is universal. While it is being replaced by new ports, it is still in use today on a large number of products, including newly introduced ones.

The original Xbox had a proprietary USB connection that was used for the controllers. Since the Xbox 360, the Xbox consoles have all had standard USB ports, available to the end user. These have been USB-A ports. 

The Xbox Series X continues to have USB-A ports on the console. There are two ports on the back of the console and one on the front. However, what has not remained the same is the type of connection on the controller. The Xbox 360 had a proprietary connector that would allow even a wireless controller to connect to the Xbox 360, and would charge the controller if you had rechargeable batteries in the controller.

While the ports are used primarily used to connect controllers, there have been some other accessories that have also used USB ports. This includes the Kinect, controllers like guitars and drums for rhythm games, and hard drives for storage. These are just a few of the many other accessories that have been available over the years.

With the introduction of the Xbox One in 2013, the port included on the controllers was a standard one, a Micro-USB port. Unlike other systems, these ports are standards compliant. Changing to a standard port would allow gamers to purchase any USB-A to Micro-USB cable to be able to connect their controller to their console. One of the downsides of the Micro-USB port is that you need to plug in the cable in a specific direction.

With the Xbox Series X, the port has changed again, but only on the controller. It is no longer Micro USB port as it was on previous controllers, but has been replaced. With a USB-C port. The fact that it is a USB-C connection is actually a good thing, for a couple of reasons. First, you longer need to worry about plugging in the power cable incorrectly. This is because USB-C is designed to be reversible. Secondly, USB-C is quickly becoming the de-facto standard for connecting most peripherals. Furthermore, if you have another USB-C cable, you can use that to charge your controller.

The thing that I am confused about is why there is not at least one USB-C port on the Xbox Series X console. I can understand needing to retain one or two USB-A ports, given that many users have existing accessories that will work on their Xbox Series X, but not having a USB-C port on the console itself does seem a bit strange. As mentioned earlier, USB-C is quickly becoming the go to standard for not just accessories, but for all other types of devices, like phones, laptops, tablets, and other gaming consoles. 

I would hope that when the next revision of the Xbox Series X comes about, if tradition holds in about in 3 to 4 years, that it would have at least one USB-C port on it, if not having all of the ports being USB-C. While it is a minor issue, it does seem a bit odd to not have a single USB-C port on the console, particularly considering that USB-C has been around long enough where there would have been time to change one or two ports to USB-C. There one last thing to mention related to the bundled-in controller and USB-C, and that is the cable.

USB-C Cable

As mentioned above the Xbox One controller used Micro-USB for its connection to the Xbox One and to charge. The cables included with these controllers were somewhat unique in that they included a light to indicate the current charging status of the controller. If this indicator was orange the controller was charging and if the light was white the controller was fully charged. 

The USB-C cable bundled with the controller does include this indicator. The controller will vibrate when you plug it in, so there is some feedback regarding the controller. However, there is no easy way to see on the cable, or the controller, the current charge status. You can use the Xbox dashboard to see the current charge status, but this does require you to turn on the Xbox in order to see the information.

The USB-C cable does have another difference, compared to the Micro-USB cable provided with the Xbox One. It is much thicker. One thing I did notice over the years of using the Xbox One, and the Xbox One S, is that the Micro USB cable would eventually fray and need to be replaced. I have owned three “Plug and Charge Kits” for the Xbox One. I would either buy a new one because the rechargeable battery would not hold a charge long enough or because the cable frayed. Since Micro USB is a standard I could have just purchased or used a standard cable, but the cables included in the “Plug and Charge Kit” was always a longer one, so I could, as the name suggests, plug in the controller and charge it simultaneously. Furthermore, it had the indicator light. So both of these items kept me purchasing the cords. The good thing about having purchased so many is that I now have a number of rechargeable batteries that can be used.

The thicker USB-C cable should provide a bit more reliability and the cable should not wear out as quickly. At least that is my hope. Again, since it is not a cable with any additional features, should it happen to break in the future, I can just order a new cable in the length I would like so that I will be able to continue charging the controller while playing. It would be nice to see Microsoft come out with a USB-C cable with a charging indicator. It was a nice feature to be able to easily see the charging status.

Even though the controller has USB-C, the console only has USB-A ports. There might be another reason why there are so many USB-A ports on the Xbox Series X, and that is backward compatibility.

Backward Compatibility

When gaming consoles first came to market, you would not have any expectation of being able to play games from another console on the current one, even if the consoles were from the same manufacturer. This was the way that gaming worked until approximately 20 years ago, when the Playstation 2 was released. The Playstation 2 allowed you to play games from the original Playstation. Microsoft did not have its own gaming console until November of 2001 with the introduction of the original Xbox, so it did not have to worry about supporting older games.. 

If Microsoft had been releasing its second console in 2001 instead of its first, they might not have included support for the original Xbox, and some may have been okay with that.. However, Microsoft’s second console did support backward compatibility.

Being able to support older console games is not as simple as snapping your fingers and having it function properly. Each game console is its own platform, has its own specifications and idiosyncrasies. Another reason this is not simple is due to the underlying platforms possibly being significantly different between console generations. 

For instance, the original Xbox console was built with parts that were similar to standard PCs. This was chosen because Microsoft knew PC parts quite well having worked on various operating systems that support the PC market for 15 years at that point. Whereas the Xbox 360 used an entirely different architecture. The Xbox 360 used an IBM Power-PC architecture. You would not be able to play games from the original Xbox on the Xbox 360, at least not without some additional work being done to support the functionality.

When the Xbox 360 was released it was announced that it would support some original Xbox games. This was possible due to technological advances that were made in the four years between the release of the original Xbox and the Xbox 360. In order to be able to run original Xbox games, the Xbox 360 would need to emulate the original Xbox’s software. 

When you do any sort of emulation, you will invariable see a loss of performance. Luckily, the Xbox 360 had enough power to be able to play the original Xbox games fast enough, even through emulation, that most users likely did not notice a difference.

When the Xbox One console was released in 2013, Microsoft had made some additional changes. Amongst these was the switch back to more standard PC-like hardware. This would allow the Xbox One to more easily emulate the original Xbox games, but with the different architecture would make it a bit more difficult. This is where the second change coms into play. That change was the way that the underlying Xbox operating system architecture had been changed. 

In the intervening eight years between the release of the Xbox 360, in 2005, and the Xbox One, in 2013, a new type of technology became more viable as a solution. That technology is what is called a hypervisor. A hypervisor allows you to run multiple operating systems simultaneously. If you have ever used some like VirtualBox, Parallels, or Microsoft’s Hyper-V, you are well aware of how you can run multiple operating systems on the same machine at the same time. This is how the Xbox One console functioned. The Xbox Dashboard was run in one virtual machine, while games were run in another. In fact, the Xbox 360 operating system would effectively virtualized, albeit with modifications, to allow the Xbox 360 games to run, even though the underlying architecture were different. The same approach continues to be the case with the Xbox Series X. 

These two changes, back to PC-like hardware and the transition to using a modified version of Microsoft’s Hyper-V, allowed backward compatibility to thrive. Since the architectures between the Xbox One and the original Xbox were similar, being able to run the original Xbox games would be expected. However, since the architectures differed between the Xbox One and the Xbox 360 so much, you might expect backward compatibility for those games to not be present. 

This is where the hypervisor comes in as well as the length of time between console releases. With the eight year difference the capabilities of the hardware improved significantly. Much like the Xbox 360, the Xbox One had enough spare processing power to be able to play the Xbox 360 games without much difference being noticed by the gamer, even when emulated. All of the Xbox 360 games that I have played on the Xbox One worked flawlessly and felt just as though they wee running on the Xbox 360.

Providing compatibility for software is core to Microsoft. However, the Xbox Series X introduces a new type of compatibility, and that is with some hardware. So, let us look at that compatibility next.

Hardware Backwards Compatibility 

Gaming is neither strictly personal nor strictly communal. It can be either one, or both at the same time. It is likely that you will end up playing a game with others from around the world, however your setup will likely be unique to you. One way that you can make gaming your own is by finding just the right controller. This could be a standard Xbox controller, or possibly even one from the Xbox Design Labs, or even a third-party controller. When you find the right controller you will likely want to be able to keep using it. Unfortunately, this has not been possible with previous generation changes.

When you think of Microsoft, you may think about their operating system, Windows, even though the have de-emphasized Windows in recent years, it still may come to mind. When you think about Microsoft Windows you might think about “backward compatibility”. If Windows has anything going for it, it is that it is highly backward compatible. As an example, if you installed Windows 7 in 2009, you could run software that was originally built for Windows 3.1, or even DOS. This type of compatibility is highly unusual.It appears that the desire for hardware backward compatibility has migrated to the Xbox Series X.

Typically when you buy a new gaming console you will get a new controller to go along with it, so you can play right out of the box. However, you may have to buy an additional controller, as well as all new accessories. While some may be compatible, it is possible that some will not. As was mentioned earlier, each time an Xbox console was introduced the previous generation’s controllers would not be compatible. What this would mean is that you would have to buy all new controllers and accessories. This is not necessarily the case if you were to upgrade to an Xbox Series X, or Xbox Series S, at least for controllers.

That is right, you are able to use your Xbox One controllers with the Xbox Series X. This is easy enough to do. It is as simple as pairing any other controller. You simply perform the following steps:

1. On the Xbox Series X console, press the controller pairing button, which is on the front near the USB port. The on/off button of the Xbox Series X console should begin blinking.
2. On the controller tap the pairing button on the top of the controller. This is next to the power port. The one/off button on the Xbox One Controller should begin blinking.

The two devices should begin pairing and once they have paired both on/off buttons will stop blinking and become solid. Once the devices have been paired, you can begin using your Xbox One controller with the Xbox Series X console. The controllers that you can pair are not just the Xbox One S controllers, or Xbox One X controllers,, but you can even pair an original Xbox One controller. This includes any of the stock controllers, Xbox Design Lab controllers, or even the Xbox Adaptive Controller.

There is one additional benefit that this ability has. Say that you are having a gaming party, but you do not have enough controllers. Now, with backward compatibility, you can ask your friends to bring their own Xbox One controllers so you can all play with a familiar controller.

The fact that all Xbox One controllers will work with the Xbox Series X is a great change to see. This is particularly true given that some users have already purchased some expensive controllers and want to keep using them. Let us now power on through to another accessory for the controllers.

Xbox Rechargeable Battery

Controllers since the Xbox 360 have had the ability to be used wirelessly. Even though the controllers can be wireless they need to be powered. This is possible by either using two standard AA batteries, or by using some rechargeable batteries. Microsoft does sell a rechargeable battery with an appropriate charging cable. They call this the Xbox Rechargeable battery. 

The kit for the Xbox Series X contains a rechargeable battery, which fits nicely inside the Xbox Series X controller as well as a USB-A to USB-C cable, so you can use the battery in your Xbox Series X controller . You do not need to use this specific set for the newer controllers. You can use the older version of this set, called the “Xbox One Plug and Charge Kit”. 

I like the Rechargeable Battery kits because they can charge while you play, provided you plug in the controller while the rechargeable battery is inserted into the controller. All batteries will degrade over time, so it is likely that you will need to replace the battery in a couple of years in order to be able to get the same amount of gameplay as when it was new.

Battery Life of the Controller

The battery life on the Xbox Rechargeable battery is quite amazing. I have had the Xbox Series X for about a month now and I have only had to charge the controller twice in that time. That means that I get approximately ten days to two weeks of game play time before needing to recharge. I do not always play the same amount of time eery day, it varies as you might expect. This is likely due to the rechargeable battery being new, but it is nice to not have to charge the controller every few days. 

My experience with Xbox Series X has not been all fun and games, although it has been mostly that. I have run into some issues while using the console. 

Problems

As is the case with just about anything these days, I have experienced problems with the Xbox Series X. The biggest problems that I have experienced, has been the Xbox Series X freezing. And when it does freeze, the entire console just shuts down. Basically, it is a hard crash. This has happened in with more than one game, therefore it is not necessarily game-specific. I have even had this happen while scrolling through the user interface. I hope this is a transient issue that is fixed with a future update. 

I have not been the only one to experience this issue, there are others that have. Some indicate it is due to ray tracing, but that is game specific setting. I suspect it is actually due to airflow problems. I set my Xbox Series X on its side with the disc drive at the top of the, and with what I thought was enough airflow around the console. However, after I moved the Xbox into an area with a bit more airflow the issue has not re-arisen, at least as of this writing. 

I have also experienced crashes of games. For one game it would crash and when I realized it had crashed I would try to go back to the Xbox dashboard, but the Xbox dashboard would end up freezing. Eventually the game would actually crash and allow me to start it up again. Typically, the game took a minute or two to actually crash.

I know that this issue was not related to airflow, because I have experienced this after moving the Xbox. I do have automatic updates enabled for both game and system updates, so it is possible that these have already been fixed, and that they may not re-occur.

I know that developing software is not an easy task, and that any piece of software is going to have bugs. Sometimes these bugs do not manifest themselves until they are in the hands of users. Hopefully, no major issues come up during my usage of the console and I hope that these issues were just software related and not an issue with the hardware.

Closing Thoughts

When you unbox the Xbox Series X you will notice notice that it is indeed heavy for a gaming console. It comes in at 9.8 pounds, or 4.45 kilograms and it is rectangular in shape. Inside the box are the split motherboards, central cooling. Powering all of this is custom CPUs and custom GPUs that are capable of handling 12 trillion processes per second. To help handle the gaming, you get two different speeds of memory, 10 gigabytes of faster memory and 6 gigabytes of slower memory.

In order to store your games and media you get 1 terabyte of storage standard on the Xbox Series X. This storage is a powerful custom solid-state drive. This SSD is faster than a standard hard drive, but also due to the speed of the SSD, which uses the Non-Volatile Memory Express, or NVME, memory. This memory allows the console to be fast not only for launching titles, but also allows for faster load times while playing games. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft introduces even larger storage options for the Xbox Series X in the future, which could add to the longevity of the console.

Once you get past the initial setup and update, you can then begin playing. When you do begin playing you can play the most current games, like Watch Dogs: Legion, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, or even NBA 2K21. While at the same time, due to backward compatibility, you can play games from previous Xbox generations, including some games that were only available on the original Xbox console. It is still mind boggling to be able to play games that were released nearly 20 years ago, all as if it were on the original console. 

If you are upgrading from an Xbox One, you may get the game data that is optimized for your console. This is known as Smart Delivery and can allow you to save some space by not downloading unneeded data. Once you do upgrade, for newer games, there may be some new technologies that enhance the game. If the game supports Ray Tracing, you may be able to have even better game play with improved shadows including very realistic rendering of the shadows in real-time. If you have the proper television setup this can make for more immersive games.

You will most likely be playing with a controller. You can use the included Xbox Series X controller or you can use any Xbox One controller. This backward compatibility with hardware is a great addition that can protect your existing investment in Xbox One accessories. So if you really like that Xbox One Elite controller, you can use still use it with your new console.

Overall, I like the Xbox Series X thus far. In most cases, it is not easy to spot any difference between playing on my old Xbox One S and the Xbox Series X. The place I notice the most change is with the amount of time that it takes for some games to load. It is noticeably faster than the older consoles, particularly if you are coming from a console that has a 5400RPM spinning hard drive.

The Xbox Series X is a great platform for gamers. The inclusion of full 4K gaming allows the highest quality of gaming. Once you add High Dynamic Range, or HDR, in with the games you will have the latest and greatest technology available and this will provide you with the best gaming experience that you can get today.

As of this writing it is difficult to get an Xbox Series X, but availability should improve over the next few months. If you are looking to either get into the Xbox, or upgrade an existing Xbox One, you cannot go wrong with the Xbox Series X. It should prove to be a great console for years to come.

There are a variety of different types of games available. Some of these are puzzle games, others are action games, and some are classic card games. Bringing any game to market, no matter how big or small, is a major undertaking. Sometimes the game becomes a hit, sometimes it flops.

When you have a hit, there is a possibility that it will allow further games. In some cases, the entire story is a one-off and does not warrant a sequel, but sometimes you get a new series of games. No matter if it is a new intellectual property or another game in an existing franchise every game has a lifecycle to it. It goes from concept, to prototype, to active development, to actual release, or maintenance.

If a game sells well enough there may be a sequel, once you have at least two games you have a franchise. The first game in a series was released in 2014 called Watch Dogs. Watch Dogs was highly anticipated titled and I think it lived up to the hype. 

Watch_Dogs

In Watch Dogs, you play as Aiden Pearce, a brilliant hacker and former thug, whose criminal past led to a violent family tragedy. Now on the hunt for those who hurt your family, you'll be able to monitor and hack all who surround you by manipulating everything connected to the city’s network. Access omnipresent security cameras, download personal information to locate a target, control traffic lights and public transportation to stop the enemy... and more.

Watch Dogs 2

Watch Dogs was not the last in the series. In 2016 the sequel, Watch Dogs 2, was released. In Watch Dogs 2, it’s 2016, ctOS 2.0, an advanced operating system networking city infrastructure, was implemented in several US cities to create a safer, more efficient metropolis. Play as Marcus Holloway, a brilliant young hacker living in the birthplace of the tech revolution, the San Francisco Bay Area. Team up with Dedsec, a notorious group of hackers, and expose the hidden dangers of ctOS 2.0, which, in the hands of corrupt corporations, is being wrongfully used to monitor and manipulate citizens on a massive scale.

I wrote up a review of Watch Dogs 2 in 2016, so be sure to check that out. Now, four years after the release of Watch Dogs 2 comes the third in the series, Watch Dogs: Legion, which is the topic of this review and provides some twists from what was in Watch Dogs and Watch Dogs 2.

Watch Dogs: Legion

Watch Dogs: Legion goes across the pond from the United States and places you in London, England. "London's facing its downfall courtesy of state surveillance, private military, and organized crime. Recruit a well-rounded resistance to overthrow the wankers ruining this once-great city. The fate of London lies with you."

Basic Story

The game starts off with you playing as Dolton Wolfe who is working with London’s branch of DedSec. DedSec finds that there are explosives set to go off at multiple places in London, including the Houses of Parliament. Wolfe tries to disable the bombs that are set to go off, Guy Fawkes style, and discovers that those trying to set off the bombs are part of a group calling themselves “Zero Day”.

Due to these bombs, the British government allows a company called Albion to take over and restore order to the streets of London. DedSec are being blamed and held responsible for the bombings, and therefore they are being targeted. It is your job to rebuild DedSec and help the city rise up against Albion, the criminals, and the government, and take back the streets of London.

Team

When you start a Watch Dogs: Legion, you are able to pick your character from a selection of characters. Along with this you also get to choose a mask. The mask is what the character will don when they are either in a restricted area or in a fight. 

The original Watch Dogs game allowed you to hack anybody to obtain information about them and steal their money. This was not nearly as prevalent in Watch Dogs 2, but has made its way back to Watch Dogs: Legion, but with a twist. Instead of hacking someone to steal their money, you hack someone to see if they might be useful for your team. Each individual that you hack has some abilities, some may be good for your team, while others may not be as useful.

For instance, a character that I had allowed uniform access to Albion sites. This is great, except he would get hiccups, so this made him a bit more noticeable by others. Similarly, there are some characters who have gambling addictions and may randomly gamble ETO. ETO is money in Watch Dogs: Legion. Yet, other characters may be public figures so they will be noticed in public. There are even characters who will randomly die. I am not sure what happens if you have perma-death enabled, because I did not play with perma-death enabled, but more on that in a minute.

Along with being able to find people throughout the city, some may be recommended recruits. When someone is recommended it is because you may be able to use them in an upcoming mission, or they may have one aspect that can help the team overall. This may be something like faster healing or reduced jail time.

Because you are able to recruit just about anyone, no two people will ever be able to play the exact same game. Yes, the missions may be the same, but the experiences will never be the exact same between two people due to the variety of teams, the team's talents, and the approach they take to the game overall. There is one setting that was mentioned earlier that may change your game play experience, and that is a setting called "perma-death".

Perma-Death

When you start the game you have a choice to make besides which character to choose. You have to choose whether or not enable a feature called “perma-death”. When enabled “perma-death” will cause any of your team members who are killed to be dead, permanently. This means that the player cannot be revived and cannot be played again. Once enabled, this cannot be disabled. similarly, once you have chosen to disable it, it cannot be re-enabled later.

Enabling perma-death can add an interesting twist on the game, but since you are able to recruit anybody, you can always recruit additional individuals should one of your characters die. I did not enable perma-death when I played through the game, but if I go through and play again at some point in the future, I may enable it.

Game Mechanics

Watch Dogs Legion has many similarities to the previous games in the series. One aspect of game play that continues within the game is needing to unlock areas by turning electrical lines. This has always been one of my favorite aspects of the Watch Dogs series and it continues in Watch Dogs: Legion. Although, it is not nearly as prevalent as in the previous games, but they still are present.

One detail that you might not think about for a game is the driving. Not that a developer would not take into account such a large aspect of a game, they would, but there has been careful attention paid to driving within Watch Dogs: Legion. Each different type of vehicle has its own driving and handling characteristics. Here is an example of driving a car.

For instance, a motorcycle handles differently than a luxury car, which handles different than the iconic double-decker bus (yes, you can drive one), and all of these handles differently than an Albion police car does. This attention to detail is a nice touch and choosing the right car may be able to to get you out of a sticky situation. Next, let us turn to a large aspect of the game, hacking.

Hacking

The biggest aspect to the Watch Dogs series is the idea of "hacking". What you are hacking depends on the game. The original Watch Dogs game had the ability to hack people for their money, you could hack cameras, cars, and many other elements. The same held true in Watch Dogs 2. However, in Watch Dogs: Legion you are able to hack a lot more within London. You can hack people to recruit them, as mentioned above, however you can also hack other items.

These items include barriers, cars, and drones. There are a variety of different types of drones. The different types include:

• Cargo Drones
• ctOS Drones
• Delivery Drones
• Chase Drones
• Riot Drones

You can perform a number of tasks on drones, including disabling them, hacking them, or betraying them. Disabling a drone will temporarily stop it from working. Hacking a drone allows you to take over the drone, which can be useful in some situations. When you betray a drone, it will autonomously operate on your behalf. This last option is not available for all drones, but only for those with weapons.

Along with the drones, you are also able to hack cars, causing them to go in a specific direction or just to crash so they are out of your way.

Hacking is still a major part of the game play, but it is not necessarily the primary means of completing the game. This may not be 100% true, because after a while having to hack things just became second nature again and faded into the background and just became habit.

Side Quests

Watch Dogs Legion has a main story line. Along with this, you can perform some side missions in order to obtain more items. These may be used to recruit team members or just to fill in the overall story line. 

When you hack a person to see if they might be a good fit for your team, you can save their information to recruit them later. When you recruit a person, you will have to perform a task for them before they will join your team. Some of these tasks are easier than others. Try not to fail when doing these, because the characters may hate you and then you can no longer recruit them. Luckily, since you can recruit just about anybody, you can find another similar character and recruit them instead.

There is one mission within the game that I would totally play an entire set of puzzles that were just flying the mini-drones through different levels.

Collectibles

Many games have different collectibles, and Watch Dogs Legion is no different. There are a few different types of collectibles. These include:

• Paste ups
• Relics
• Text files
• Audio files
• Tech Points
• ETO
• Masks

Some of these are out in the open, while others require a bit more  ore ingenuity to figure out. Some of these items are also only available while within a mission.  None of these items are needed to complete the game, but obtaining some of them, like ETO and Tech Points will allow you to purchase items. Getting things like relics, text files, and audio files will help fill out the entire story. If you collect a relic, text file, or audio file, you can look at it in the menu.

Here is a video of what performing a "Paste Up" looks like. You can also see me do something stupid at the end of the video.

Tips

After you play a game you may find ways that you could have improved your game play. Now that I have finished the game, I have some tips for those who have not yet played it.

Tip 1: Early in the game, use auto drive. One of the things that you can do is grab a car and almost every vehicle has the ability to automatically take you to your destination. I recommend doing this early on so you can become accustomed to not only the layout of the city. Furthermore, when you drive in London, you drive on the left side of the road, not the right side. Therefore, auto drive may help you acclimate to driving on the left side oft the road and learn the rules of the road.

Tip 2: Recruit an Albion character. This will make things a lot easier during the game, particularly since many of the areas that you need to go into can be done stealthily with an Albion character.

Tip 3: Use stealth as much as possible. There are a number of tasks that do not require you to go all “run and gun” and instead, might be better completed by either hacking cameras or using a spider. Use these as much as possible.

Tip 4: Similar to using stealth, also use melee attacks as much as possible. Doing this may allow you to subdue an enemy without other enemies being alerted.  Here is a melee video as an example.

Tip 5: There is a mission where you must chase a van, get a tough vehicle, like an Albion Hummer and use that to tip the van. It will make completing the job significantly easier. Also, use the drones that attack during that mission to your advantage.

Tip 6: If the game says “you are no longer online”, quit the game and restart. Anything you do will not be saved and you will be wasting your time.

The last tip brings us to the next section, issues that I ran into while playing.

Problems with the Game

No modern software, let alone a large game, is 100% bug free. Bugs are to be expected. Even so, I ran into some pretty severe problems with the game while playing it.

The first issue that I experienced was the game randomly crashing. The game would just randomly freeze and crash. 

Of course, when a game crashed progress that I would have made would not be saved. Sometimes, this was just a minor annoyance, but more often than not, it was a bigger issue.

The biggest issue I ran across was that the game would not save my progress. I do not mean that I would die and would have to go back. What I mean is that I would do a lot of work in the game and the game would crash.

The biggest one of these was when I was working on the last main mission, literally at the end of the game, and the game froze. Not only did it not save that mission, I lost SIX MISSIONS worth of progress. I had to redo six missions to get back to where I was.

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE. Losing progress for a single mission, or one leg of a mission, is one thing. But having to redo multiple missions is just hostile. Ubisoft needs to have more robust saving system where the game is saved locally and then uploaded to their servers. If this is how it actually works, then it is absolutely broken. If not, then this is how it should work.

Besides the pervasive not saving progress issue, I also ran across some other bugs. For instance, I took down a person who had an access card, but they fell into a column. When this happened, I could not hack the access code, therefore I could not access the area that the card opened up. As proof, here is a photo of the character in the column.

Another example of that is this video where I tossed a spiderbot onto a building and it got stuck.

Another bug that I ran into, literally, is where I tried to turn the corner on the balcony of a building and the only thing that happened is that I was stopped. It was like a barrier extended beyond where it should. Here is the video showing what I experienced.

Here is another bug that I ran across, a missing person that I was supposed to rescue. I was able to rescue them, but it is still odd to not have the character show at all. Here is the video for that.

These last few items were minor annoyances and did not really affect game play all that much. The inability to get the access card did cause me to have to leave the area completely and come back to that spot later on. As you can see from the video, I was able to get around the invisible barrier, but it still should not have been there.

Closing Thoughts

When the original Watch Dogs game as first announced, I was immediately intrigued. Not only because of the unique hacking of the game, which was the primary draw, but also because it was based in Chicago. 

When Watch Dogs 2 was announced and released, I knew it was a game I would instantly buy and play, because it continued the same type of game. When I heard that Watch Dogs: Legion was going to be set in London, I knew I would going to buy it, but I was a bit apprehensive because I was unsure about how the “recruit anybody” mechanism would work. 

The game is really good. The fact that it is based in London is what really grabbed me. I have only ever visited London once, but I really want to to back. Maybe one day. The Watch Dogs series of games are some of my favorites, not only for the story lines, but for the actual game play. 

If you enjoyed the original Watch Dogs or Watch Dogs 2, I would absolutely recommend you pick up Watch Dogs: Legion. The new recruitment within the game is a nice twist on standard game play, as is the ability to do just about anything within the game.

Even though there are issues with the game, like the crashing and lost progress, the game is still worth playing and an enjoyable game. All of this is before the first expansions for the game are available, so even just for the core game, it is one that you should look into getting.

Here is a group of photos taken from within the game.

One of my areas of interest is video games. I do own a number of consoles. The list of consoles that I own includes:

• Xbox One
• Playstation 4
• Nintendo Switch
• Wii U
• Playstation 3
• Wii
• Xbox 360

I do not generally use all of these. In fact, the only ones that I use on a regular basis are the first four listed. The Playstation 3 is effectively a Blu-ray player at this point.

My go to gaming console is the Xbox One. I do not buy that many games throughout the year. In fact, I generally only end up buying at most six a year. During 2017 I ended up buying more games than normal due to the Nintendo Switch being released. As a matter of fact, I only played eleven different games this year. I thought I would provide a ranking of the games that I have played throughout the year.

1. Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo Switch)
2. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Xbox One)
3. PCalc (iOS)
4. LEGO Marvel Superheroes 2 Deluxe (Xbox One)
5. Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo Switch)
6. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo Switch)
7. Typeshift (iOS)
8. Call of Duty: WWII (Xbox One)
9. Lego City Undercover (Xbox One)
10. Super Bomberman R (Nintendo Switch)
11. Puyo Puyo Tetris (Nintendo Switch)

The ranking that provided above is for many reasons. I will attempt to briefly give reasons for my rankings.

1. Super Mario Odyssey

Super Mario Odyssey is the best game that I have played this year. It worked flawlessly on the Nintendo Switch. It combined the best elements of classic 2D Super Mario as well as Nintendo 64 Mario, and it did this all to provide a great story and fun game play. There were only a couple of sections that I found that I could not accomplish. The new game play mechanics of using the hat did add a nice touch to the game. I hope Nintendo continues using the mechanic in another game in the future. I did not get all of the Moons, but that is okay with me.

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2. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Xbox One)

I have been of a fan of the Wolfenstein series since I first played Wolfenstein 3D back in the MS-DOS days. I have probably purchased more copies of Wolfenstein 3D than I care to admit. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus was not universally loved, like Super Mario, but I enjoyed the story and the game play. You play as BJ Blazkowicz in a continuation of the story in the 2014 reboot, Wolfenstein: The New Order. The gameplay of Wolfenstein II was fun and some new mechanics added a nice touch to a first person shooter. I ran into some issues, which is why it ended up as second in my list and not number one.

To me the Wolfenstein Series, along with Duke Nukem and Doom, will always hold a special place and as long as there is another game in the Wolfenstein universe released, I will likely end up buying it.

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3. PCalc (iOS)

I do not play as many new iOS games as others do. On iOS I generally tend to stick to a couple of games, Solitaire and Tetris. PCalc is not a game, on its face. However, there is a full fledged game within the app. PCalc's author James Thomson has been working on versions of PCalc for 25 years now. Every time a new feature in iOS is added, James attempts to include it within PCalc, if it makes sense.

Within iOS 11, Apple added a bunch of new frameworks that would allow developers to add augmented reality within their apps. James has done just this. You can play a racing game, complete with track and even achievements. With the inclusion of the game in the "About" screen, I consider it a game. If you have an Apple TV, PCalc TV is the way to really play the game. Plus, besides the game, you get a fully fledged calculator and you definitely need one on the iPad.

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4. Lego Marvel Superheroes 2

Besides video games I love legos. As a kid, I loved playing with legos. As much as I love legos, Lego sets are a bit expensive and therefore I do not buy as many as I would like; plus I do not have the space for a bunch of sets. Now, if you combine Video games and Legos, it is a no brainer for me to get those. The strangest aspect to this purchase was that I am not a Comic book fan and do not really care to see most Comic-based movies. Therefore, I do not know about most of the characters that are included in these games. However, even with all of this, I did enjoy the Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 game.

The story was interesting and did make for a different gameplay. Despite my love for lego and video games, there was not really enough new to warrant having it go higher than it's current ranking. One of the things I try to do with Lego games is get 100% on them. However, the Lego Superhero games do not allow me to do this. The fact that it is a Lego game, is why it edged out the next game.

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5. Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Unlike the Wolfenstein series, the Zelda franchise is not one that I generally partake in. The biggest reason that I ended up playing some of Zelda is that when I got my Nintendo Switch back in March there were not many games out, particularly since Mario Kart was not going to be released until April. Therefore, in order to be able to play something I picked up a copy of Zelda.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a visually stunning game. The story really does allow you to become immersed within the world and urges you on. The open world nature of the game provides a way for you to be able to go and explore wherever you want. Eventually though, it did not hold enough appeal for me to continue playing it. For those that love Zelda, it is a great game to play and is one that you should go out and play.

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6. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

One of the things that is not easy to do is differentiate racing games. Racing games all have a common game mechanic, end up in first. It is not easy to make your game stand out, however for Nintendo it is a bit easier. This is due to having a large breadth of characters. Mario Kart has been the go to Nintendo racing game, not only for the iconic characters, but because of the very

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is not a brand new Mario Kart game, since it was available for the Nintendo Wii U, but the Nintendo Switch provided a boost to sales of the game. Mario Kart 8 is a traditional Mario Kart game complete with classic tracks as well as new ones. If you have played any Mario Kart games, Mario Kart 8 is one you should play as well.

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7. Typeshift (iOS)

There are only two iOS games on my list this year, and this is the second of them; Typeshift. TypeShift is a word puzzle game that provides you with a set of characters and the object of the game is make words using all of the characters. The catch is that the characters appear in vertical lines and have to shift each line to create the words.

While my explanation may not make a lot of sense, once you begin playing you will catch on quickly. Typeshift has become one of the games that I play daily, besides Tetris Premium and Solitaire by Mobilityware.

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8. Call of Duty: WWII (Xbox One)

You may be able to tel that my primary gaming genre is the first person shooter. One of the most popular franchises is the Call of Duty series. The Call of Duty series started off as a World War II series, but eventually turned to more modern and even futuristic storylines. Call of Duty: WWII brings the franchise back to its roots with World War II, but with modern mechanics.

For me, first person shooters are the single player stories, which is the antithesis of the focus of the series for many gamers. Much like Wolfenstein II, some players did not like the single player story, but I did not mind it. It was not the best story, but you do play as a number of different characters in different scenarios which was a nice adaptation for the series.

I have only played a couple dozen online matches for Call of Duty: WWII and it is not likely that I will play many more. The online matches offer no real differentiation from pervious games and is one of the big reasons that it is number 7 on my list. If you enjoy the Call of Duty series and were hoping for it to go back to its roots, this is one that you might enjoy.

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9. Lego City Undercover (Xbox One)

This is the second Lego video game that I have played this year, however it not the first time that I have played the game. Lego City Undercover originally came out in 2013 on the Wii U. When it was released on the Wii U it heavily relied upon the Wii U game pad for interaction. Without a game pad this time, interactions had to be adjusted.

I enjoyed playing through the game again and unlike Lego Marvel Superheroes 2, I did get 100% on this one. Because I had played it did not rank up as high as other games, but that does not diminish from how fun it is. If you take the vast open world nature of Grand Theft Auto or Zelda and place it within a world of Lego characters you will get Lego City Undercover. Lego City Undercover contains hours of fun and will keep you occupied for a long time.

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10. Super Bomberman R (Nintendo Switch)

With it being the debut year for the Nintendo Switch there are a number of games that are being released for the console. One of those games is a remake of a classic Nintendo franchise, Bomberman. Super Bomberman R is a rebooted Bomberman game. I never really played any of the previous Bomberman games, but I enjoyed the story mode on this one. There are 50 levels to play through where you have to complete puzzles to defeat the robot enemies. As with most games, there are some levels that are tougher than others, but overall it is a good puzzle game that will keep you entertained. There is an online multiplayer component, but I have not played online

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11. Puyo Puyo Tetris (Nintendo Switch)

The last game in my list for this year is Puyo Puyo Tetris. Puyo Puyo Tetris takes two franchises, Puyo Puyo and Tetris and intersperses gameplay of both games into one. I originally purchased this game because it was a Tetris game. However, I was quite disappointed with the game overall. I am sure if you were a fan of Puyo Puyo as well as Tetris you would enjoy it. However, for me, it was not anything that I enjoyed.

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Final Thoughts

Those are all of the game that I have played this year. The list may not be very long but I have played all of these games for more than a cursory amount of time. The one thing that I did not expect was to have two iOS games on my list, since my iOS devices are generally where I play most of my super casual games. Typically PCalc would not be included, but everything that James has done with the app, particularly with iOS 11, warrants its inclusion. It is not likely that I will play most of these games much in 2018, excluding maybe TypeShift and PCalc. I will likely go through Wolfenstein II again once the next one is released. I may dabble in Mario Kart and Super Mario Odyssey again, but once I finish a game I typically do not go back to it.

Depending on what games are released in 2018, as well as reaction to the list, I may do another list next year.

In June of 2012, at their E3 conference, Ubisoft unveiled a brand new intellectual property. This one was a twist on the genre of open-world games. The game, was Watch Dogs, also seen as WATCH_DOGS. The game was a commercial success with over 10 million copies being sold in 2014. With the game being successful, Ubisoft has produced a sequel, Watch Dogs 2; which is the focus of this review. Given the high level of similarities, with regards to the mechanics, between Watch Dogs and Watch Dogs 2, let us start there.

A bit of backstory for Watch Dogs is needed. Due to a blackout in the Northeastern United States, the Blume Corporation builds a new Central Operating System (ctOS), that provides a way to have everything connected.

Chicago

The open world of Watch Dogs is based on a fictionalized version of Chicago. The game allowed variety of neighborhoods that ranged from run-down areas to the most affluent. The game included iconic sights within Chicago. Some of these included the EL, the Sears Tower, and even Buckingham Fountain.

Within Watch Dogs, you play as "The Vigilante" also known as Aiden Pierce. Aiden was seen during a robbery of a Hotel, and since he ended up leaving during that robbery, a bounty is put on him. The hit man is instructed to take out his family, if necessary.

The hitman manages to accidentally kill Aiden Pearce's niece Lena, so he is out to get revenge. That is where Watch Dogs starts.

Gameplay

Almost everything in Watch Dogs was "hackable", meaning that you can use your phone to hack other individuals. When you did this, you could intercept a variety of things. These may include: money, chats, or even phone calls. The money would be the most helpful, but reading chat conversations or listening to phone calls could provide an entertaining insight into each pedestrian as they innocently go about their lives.

Similarly, this means that there are some objects within the world that are "hackable". Some examples include cell phones, cars, city infrastructure, doors, and a number of other items.

With many first person shooter games, you are limited to the actions that you can perform. The same is true with Watch Dogs, but part of the gameplay of Watch Dogs that defines the Watch Dogs games is the fact that besides being an open-world, it is also a puzzle game.

In the first Watch Dogs there was an aspect to the game where you had to turn items to be able to activate other items. As an example, you would start with a power unit with lines In Watch Dogs, this was so prevalent that the "Peephole" achievement. These puzzles continue in Watch Dogs 2, however they are not nearly as common.

Watch Dogs 2

Watch Dogs 2 takes the success of Watch Dogs, and adds to it. In Watch Dogs 2, you play as Marcus Holloway, an Oakland-based hacker trying to get into Dedsec. In order to be initiated, Marcus, also known as Retr0, must go on a mission. This is the opening mission.

Technology

Watch Dogs introduced the original mechanism of using a cell phone to hack individuals. With the advancement of only a couple of years, Watch Dogs 2 has been able to add a few new mechanisms.

Watch Dogs 2 uses some of the technology is RC. The RC Car can jump, taunt and even drop weapons against enemies. The same can be said for the Drone. The Drone is needed for some levels, as well as some collectables.

One of the technologies that have become more ubiquitous since the original Watch Dogs is 3D Printing. In Watch Dogs, you could go into a gun shop to purchase weapons. However, with Watch Dogs 2, you can now use a 3D printer to print out, and even adorn, your weapon of choice. You can even do some side missions to be able to get different paint jobs for your weapons.

Another aspect to technology that has become quite common is the act of taking a selfie, or self-picture. This is doable within Watch Dogs 2, as is explained below.

San Francisco

One of the side missions of almost any game is to collect things. In Watch Dogs, there was the "Peephole" achievement, mentioned above, where you would use hacking to peek into what others were doing to get an even richer sense of the gaming universe.

Watch Dogs 2 does have a similar side mission, but this is to get pictures of some of the iconic tourist sights in San Francisco. One of the twists with this, you can use the front-facing camera on your in-game phone to take pictures of yourself. Just like social media sites in life, characters will comment, in-game, on the pictures that you take.

The game world is not just confined to San Francisco, but encompasses the surrounding area. Some of these are Silicon Valley, Marin County, and Oakland. When you look at the map, it may seem small, but it really is not that small.

The scenery of San Francisco is spot on. Having never been there myself, it would seem like it is an accurate replication of what the San Francisco area is like. People who live in the Bay Area, or have visited enough, can verify or refute that statement.

Game Play

As mentioned above, Watch Dogs 2 implements many of the same mechanisms as in Watch Dogs. You are still able to hack phones, cameras, cars, and city infrastructure. However, the mechanisms are expanded upon. For instance, there are now two additional items to help you in the game. The first is as remote control car. An RC car was introduced in the Watch Dogs expansion, Bad Blood. However, it plays an even more prominent role in Watch Dogs 2.

In Watch Dogs 2, the RC car is necessary, not only for being able to get to through certain missions, but also in order to avoid detection. There is another mechanism, a drone. The drone is used for simliar tasks. However, it can come in even handier than the RC car can.

Just like in Watch Dogs, you come across additional characters that will either help or hinder you along the way. A number of these individuals are hackers, and assist in some ways. While others are those out stop you.

Control Scheme

The control scheme for Watch Dogs 2 is different than it was for Watch Dogs. After playing through Watch Dogs 2, and then going back and playing the first couple of missions of Watch Dogs again, it took some re-orientation to get back into using the proper controls. It is a minor thing, but something to be aware of.

Final Thoughts

After playing through the entire game. Some may think that the storyline is entirely implausible. Some aspects of it appear to be impractical. However, one thing that Watch Dogs 2 does, is make its own social commentary about not just humans, but also on technology and society as a whole.

Overall, Watch Dogs 2 is an improvement over Watch Dogs. The game play is good and the story, even with some quibbles, is pretty good. There is more to do in the game, from ATV racing, drone racing, or even grabbing bags of cash. There is plenty for all users to enjoy within the game. If you enjoy open-world games, and in particular, if you enjoyed Watch Dogs, then Watch Dogs 2 is worth getting.

Where would I like to see them go next? Maybe England, because ctOS is already, if not super close, to becoming a reality. Everything is being monitored there, so it would make for a possible candidate for future expansion.

Watch Dogs 2 is available on Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC. Links below are to purchase the title from Amazon.

Note: There may be some spoilers, nothing explicit, but some aspects of the game will be revealed. If you do not mind, continue reading.

I have just finished the game Mafia III. While I do not normally do reviews of games, I thought that I would for this one.

There is one thing that modern media has learned is that making sequels are usually a good bet. One of the downsides to sequels is that they are not always good. As a matter of fact, it is often that the second in a trilogy is bad. There are exceptions to this general rule, but they are few and far between.

One place where this is the case is the Mafia series of games. The latest installment, Mafia III. The original Mafia game came out in 2002. The sequel came out in 2010. The original Mafia game followed Tommy Angelo as he made his way up through the Mafia in Lost Heaven. The time period for Mafia is the 1930s.

Mafia II followed a new character, Vito Scaletta, as he traverses through the 1940s and early 1950s mafia scene in Empire Bay with his best friend Joe Barbaro. As one might expect, Vito makes his way up through the ranks of the Mafia holding onto Empire Bay.

Mafia III takes this trope and puts a slightly different twist on it. In Mafia III you are Lincoln Clay, newly arrived home from his tour in Vietnam, he comes back to find that the life he knew, and those he cares about, are all in trouble. Lincoln takes it upon himself to make sure everything gets back to normal. In order to do make this happen, he must take on those that are running, and thus crippling, New Bordeaux.

Features

Throughout the game you will see cutscenes, some of these are in the same time frame as the game that you play through, while others are past this time. All of thes cut scenes add to overall story and add some depth to different characters throughout the game, as well as the overall story as a whole.

Combat

As one might expect with an open-world first person shooter, combat is a primary mechanism in the game. This is one aspect that has been greatly improved over the previous Mafia games. You are provided with a variety of weapons to choose from. During the game, I ended up using two weapons for a vast majority of the time.

Assistance

You are able to get assistance from others within the game. This is a key aspect of the game, and the assistance they provide is greatly needed. Use them as you will.

Collectibles

Many games have an aspect where you can collect different items. Mafia III is no different. There are six total types of collectibles, with a significant number of a few of them. The collectibles do not add anything to the story itself, but they are a set of nice side missions to go ahead and complete.

The Good

There are many things that are great about Mafia III. The story lines makes sense. The world is completely open and you are able to perform the missions in any order you choose, which is a nice touch. This means that the game is not one that is on rails.

There is a significant amount of attention to detail that is paid with the game. This ranges not only from the moon bouncing off of the cars, but also to the vibration of the controller changing when your drive over different surfaces.

The scenery of the game is spectacular. As you play the game, you can tell that the artists designed the game to be as realistic as possible iven the constraints that they were under.

The sound in the game is done quite well. There are little touches that add to the experience. The game is done in stereo, meaning that if voices are to the left of you, you hear it in the left headphone; it is the same for the right. This applies not only to characters, but also to cars. For instance, the rear right tire on a car I was driving popped and I was driving only on the rim. The sparking and grinding of that tire was only audible in the right headphone. It is nice touches like these that make the game that much more enjoyable.

Crazy Flips

With a game that spans a vast distance, it is necessary to have vehicles to get from one place to another. Mafia III has a variety of cars that can help you get o your destination. While driving, it nigh impossible to drive perfectly and never hit anything. However, when you do go ahead and hit something you may be able to do some spectacular flips, which adds some fun into the game.

Epic Fails

Here are a few of my own epic fails throughout the game.

The Bad

All games have issues, particularly when they are first released. Due to the way that manufacturing and shipping works, games generally also have day-one updates. Mafia III is no exception. Below is a list of the issues that I encountered while playing the game. Some make the game play worse than others do.

Freezing

When I was playing, the game would just randomly freeze. Now, this is not necessarily bad, because it would catch up, but it was quite annoying; particularly if I was in a sticky situation and it froze.

Similarly, the game would outright crash. Several times, this lead to me losing progress in the game. A few times the game crashed when it was saving. The game states when you start it up, not to quit the game or turn off the console while it is saving. I am glad that it did not cause any issues. However, one can perceive a lack of caring from the developer, not necessarily due to the crashes, but due to the lack of fixing of the bugs, even a couple of weeks after the game was released.

Sound

Besides the crashes, there are times when resuming a game that there would be absolutely no sound. In some cases it's not an issue, but if you are trying to go through a cutscene, there would be no sound, making it rather difficult to understand what was going on, if you did not enable captions. Strangely, when this occurred, it also meant that the vibrations that should occur did not, meaning that there was no force feedback.

I was able to determine this was the game and not the entire system because if I went through the system it would have sound all throughout the user interface.

Car Failures

While we can expect games to be perfect, we all know that it not possible for all games to be perfected. In Mafia III there are some spectacular failures of cars throughout the game, at least as I experienced them.

Side Mission Failures

The biggest issues that I encountered while playing the game was actually when I attempted to do some side missions, but they experienced glitches. This is not just once or twice, but consistently. For one set of side missions I was not able to perform them. Below is an example of some of the side mission issues that I ran across.

Missing Weapons

At one point throughout the game, I managed to lose access to an explosive, without any way of getting this back. Quitting the game and logging back in did not show the explosive, yet, it said that my inventory of that explosive was full.

Duplicate Characters

There were a couple of times when I finished side missions that I ran into a glitch where some characters were appearing twice. This happened more than once. Here are a couple of examples.

Improvements

No game is ever perfect. Despite all that is good with Mafia III there are some things that can be improved. The items below that can be improved do not fall into the "bad" items above.

The biggest area for improvement, as I see, is stealth mode. Being able to use stealth is great, however there is only one option for stealth. After a while, this can become quite repetitive. It would be nice to have a couple of different options for stealth mode.

Tips

I do have some tips for playing the game. Beware though, that some of these may be spoilers, and I have tried to remain as spoiler free as possible up to this point. If you want to view the tips, click here. Otherwise, you can skip to the conclusion.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Mafia III is a great game, despite the flaws in the game itself. The artwork, sound, and gameplay are all done very well. The tiny touches of the light, with the changes when going over different materials all add to the experience.

The issues with the game are ones that badly need to be addressed and are mentioned above. The constant freezing and quitting being the two most egregious issues.

The game will provide you will plenty to do and give you hours of hours of game play, even with all of the issues. If you are a fan of open world first person shooters, then Mafia III is definitely a game that you should check out.

I have been gaming for quite a long time now. Since my teens I have primarily been focusing on playing First Person Shooters. The series that I tend to play include Call of Duty, Battlefield, Duke Nukem, and Wolfenstein, among others.

Along with the first person shooter genre, I have also played other genres of games. As I have written on this site and others, I have reviewed a few of the Lego-based video games, and will likely review another one in the future, once it is released. Beside these, I also enjoy puzzlers like Portal and Portal 2.

But I am not here to review a game within those categories, but instead, FireWatch. FireWatch is developed by Campo Santo and Panic Software.

Cost and Requirements

Firewatch is $19.99 and is available from Steam for PC and Macs, as well as for the Playstation 4. The requirements for the game include a Geforce 450 with 1GB of memory, 6GB of RAM and 4GB of storage space. On the Mac side it requires a 2011 Mac, running OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion or later, with a discrete graphics card with 1GB of RAM. The discrete graphics card is a requirement.

I bought the game for the Playstation 4, because I knew that my 2011 iMac would not be able to handle the game due to the video card requirement. My 2015 MacBook Pro might have been able to handle it, but I do not normally play games on my MacBook Pro, so the Playstation 4 it was.

The Story

The game is a first person mystery game. You are Henry, and you have come out to Wyoming to get away from life. You are equipped with a very limited number of items, the primary one being a radio. On the other end of the radio is a woman named Delilah, who is your boss. Throughout the game, additional items are provided, but the best of all, none of them are weapons. I will not give away anything that happens.

It is not a long game, it took me approximately four hours to complete the game. I finished the story, but did not inspect every single area possible. You can explore many different areas of the game. Since there are no weapons, it makes the game a bit simpler and appealing to a broader range of users.

Visuals

The game is very visually appealing. The graphics are stunning and I love the scenery and the views. The game takes place at different times throughout the day, so you can see different scenes. Ones that include sunrise, daylight, sunset and even at night. The variety of times that you play, works very well with the story and only enhances and heightens the emotionality of the game.

Issues

While playing the game there were several times that I experienced stuttering audio. It was not that there was stuttering, but the stuttering made the audio completely un-listenable. I had subtitles on, so I was able to follow along. Given that the game is only about three weeks old, I'm sure the issue will be fixed, but it still made it difficult to hear the game. That was it in terms of issues. Only the audio was an issue.

Final Thoughts

Even though Firewatch is a short game, it is a fantastic game. From the moment that you start the game until the end, the game plays on your emotions. If you do not feel something while playing the game, it may be best to re-evaluate your life. The game goes very deep. I do not think a game has really made me think this much since I played The Last of Us. I finished the game about two hours ago and I am already thinking that I need to replay the game.

The one thing I would like to see is the game become available for the Xbox One. It is my preferred platform, but even playing on the Playstation 4, it was a great game. If it ever does become available for the Xbox One, I will likely end up buying it there too.

If you enjoy games that make you think, I would absolutely recommend getting Firewatch. It will be well worth the price. If I had to sum it up in six words: "Buy it and play it today."

So a couple of weeks ago I bought an XBOX 360 Pro version. With the 20GB Hard drive, and the whole thing. I'm debating on getting a 12 Month Xbox Live subscription. I'm debating on getting either just the 12 Month Subscription here or maybe the Xbox Live 360 Camera Bundle. I guess the bundle is actually cheaper overall since buying each component would be more expensive, so I'm just wondering which one to get.. ideas?

So I have purchased, played, and beaten the Simpsons Wii game.. There were some levels (Like Donut one), that sucked major, but overall it wasn't a bad game as long as you don't try and get everything the first go around... One thing I do like is the ability to go ahead and replay an episode. So you can go and get all of the extra things. One disappointing thing is that the gameplay between the versions (Xbox360, Playstation3, and Wii) do not match up. The Wii version doesn't allow an open area of play, like the 360 version does... odd... and there aren't the same levels between the two versions. There are many of the same levels, but there are some that aren't. I would recommend it to anybody who likes adventure/first person shooter/simpsons. It's definitely not "Hit & Run" but fun none-the-less.